For the German philosopher Karl Marx, the alienation it is a kind of social mechanism capable of displacing the worker from his place of producer to that of consumer.
Thus, the worker ceases to identify with the final product he builds, without recognizing it.
And he abandons the idea that what has been produced belongs to him. Making it possible to maintain the exploitation of work.
THE alienation from work would happen due to the capitalist production model.
Alienation concept
The definition of alienation can vary according to the discipline or theorist who studies it. In common sense it is also usual to use the term to characterize someone who "lives outside of reality".
The word alienated comes from Latin and means "what is outside", "what belongs to the other" or "what is not me/mine".
However, the concept in Marxist theory differs. It is mainly related to exploitation of work and the class struggle.
For Marx, a society divided into social classes will be a space in which labor is exploited. Likewise, in a class society, the prevailing ideas will be those belonging to the ruling classes.
According to the thinker, the ruling classes would make their ideals considered natural or the full truth, not to be contested.
The dominant and also exploiting class would be the bourgeoisie, while the exploited would be the proletariat (workers).
In this social dynamic, the bourgeoisie would have taken its means of production from the proletariat.
From the appropriation of the means of production, the bourgeoisie becomes the owner of the means and of what is produced, giving the proletariat, in return (payment) for its labor power, only a small part.
added value
For Marx, it would be called added value, the part of what was produced and not delivered to the worker. This part is alienated (withdrawn) from the proletariat by the owners of the means of production.
That is, in this way, the worker will always receive a payment lower than the true value of his work.
According to the philosopher, it was during Modernity, in the 15th century, that the appropriation of the means of production by the bourgeoisie began. Whereas, before, the worker was the producer and gave (in the form of tribute or taxes) a portion of what he produced to royalty or the state.
From the 15th century onwards, the worker ceased to be the owner of what he produced and began to receive the smallest portion of what was produced. The bourgeoisie becomes the owner of the products and also of the means of production.
As means of production, one can exemplify, from a river where fishing is carried out, a producing farm or even a factory. The space, the structure and the material capable of making production possible, when associated with the work forces.
Therefore, for Marx, there is an alienation when the worker ceases to recognize himself as the producer. The division of labor also makes the worker unable to identify with the final product.
By doing only one of the several tasks that make up a production process, the worker would not be able to see himself as the producer of what was built. And if he is interested in the final product, he will have to purchase it as a consumer, paying through the economic market.
Social alienation and economic alienation
would be called social alienation, when the worker starts to see himself only as a consumer, paying for what he produces. Trading your own work with the market.
The philosopher also claims that economic alienation it is the basis of the whole phenomenon of alienation in a capitalist society. And it is based on the appropriation of the means of production, transformed into the private property of the bourgeoisie.
Alienation in Marx is a conceptualization that is related to the exploitation of labor, the division of labor, consumption and the capitalist economy.
Understand more about the concepts of added value and Private propriety.
Bibliographical sources:
- GRESPAN, J. Marx: an introduction. Boitempo Editorial, São Paulo, 2021.
- MESZÁROS, I. The theory of alienation in Marx. Boitempo Editorial, São Paulo, 2017.
